Should one be a vegetarian? What is our sixth sense?

Few days back, I went to the tailor shop to get my stitched clothes. It is not new in India; we are made to wait in all places not just because of our growing population but also due to our reluctance in not doing our duty at the right time. They told me to wait as they were yet to iron the cloth.

Half an hour passed looking here and there. There were four tailors at the shop. All of a sudden, a conversation broke out with one of them asking others, ‘What is needed for a living?’ One said, ‘I need peace in my life’. To my surprise, second one said, ‘I need the beautiful salesgirl working next door’. Another said, ‘I need money’. I smiled and thought to myself ‘Isn’t food the most important thing needed in life?’

After receiving the clothes, I returned home with deep thoughts in my mind. Other part of the brain said, ‘don’t think too much, half your hairs are already grey’. Never mind.

Why should we depend on other organisms for our food? Why don’t we produce our own food? Why should we kill animals to satisfy our hunger? Some of you, I’m sure are piping up with the point, ‘even plants are living organisms and have life, isn’t it equally sinful to destroy them for our own needs?’

These arguments drag me to my basics. The living things are divided into two major divisions, the autotrophs and the heterotrophs. Autotrophs are the living things that produce their own food. On the other hand, Heterotrophs are living things that depend on other organisms for their food. As we cannot produce our own food, we depend on other organisms for our food. In near future, who knows, chloroplast might have been incorporated into our cell to produce our own food!

It’s natural to kill other organisms for our very survival. Nobody here can say, ‘I do not harm other living creatures’. Do you think you can stop your WBC from killing the harmful microorganisms that enter the body? – Never. When our own life is in danger, it is natural that we tend to free ourselves from the clutch; it may even include much destruction process.

I like to classify living organism into four types based on human consumption, (Though Humans come under animalia, we will have them separate to better understand the article)

1. Plants.
2. Domestic animals.
3. Wild animals.
4. Human.

At the first place, we should know that we target plants and domestic animals as they are not going to harm us. Food, being a basic need, there is no other go but to depend on other living organisms. Man, the highest organism in the living chain, has the advantage to consume plants and all animals.

Why consume plants and not animals:

Here, I classify living organism based on senses they possess,

1. Plants.
2. Animals.
3. Human.

As far as I remember, plants have the sense of light. Some plants also enjoy the sense of touch. Animals have the sense of sight, smell, touch, taste and hear. When compared to animals, human have an additional sense called the sixth sense.

What is the sixth sense?

Plants and animals have not changed since their arrival. They have only adapted to the environment. Plants absorb light, fix nitrogen, and produce their food. When there was no light, they extend to absorb light. Coming to animals, their main function is to locomote in search of prey and to reproduce.
Here comes the most important and highly intellectual living thing, the human. He not only does his basic function. He always does and thinks more than what needs to be done. We should agree that it has made life easier for us in one sense without denying the fact that it has made life difficult for the other living organisms that share space with us.

Apart from the five physical senses, humans have the mental sense which is more than just thinking. It makes us analyze – what is right and what is wrong, how to be social, how to respond, how to overcome a problem.

Let’s take an example of walking in very hot sun. An animal which is unable to bear the heat searches and rests in shadow. But when you take a human, he thinks how to overcome this and uses slippers to walk and umbrella to protect the whole body. To make it simple, our intellect is the sixth sense.

Plants and animals have not changed, they have only adapted to the changes in the environment brought out by natural causes and by human beings. The fittest are able to adapt, survive and others become extinct.

We are so selfish and we do not care about the other living organisms on earth. With our so called sixth sense, we have done everything possible for their destruction. We kill cockroaches and lizards at home, but how many of us know about their usefulness. They feed on insects and keep our home clean. They are also useful scavengers that clean our filth and excreta, which left uncleaned, will lead to many diseases. Many of the birds are hunted for their meat. These birds help us in many ways for our survival. They help in pollination and seed dispersal. Birds are insectivorous and keep a check on insect population. There are insect eating bats which can eat 300 mosquitoes in an hour and also keeps dengue at bay. But these bats are killed by humans for meat and superstitious beliefs. The fact is “Birds can survive without humans, but humans cannot survive without birds”.

If this continues to happen, in the longer run, there will only be one organism in this world – The Human being. Indeed, there are chances that one human is killed for the survival of another.

These problems are all due to the sixth sense of humans.

Why should one not be a non-vegetarian?

Good bye...

The incident that transformed me is the recent execution of Ajmal Kasab. Though, he was responsible for the death of many innocent people, we arrived at no solution by hanging him. Think how much pain and agony he would have undergone when taken to the death trap.

I can hear, some of you shouting at me, ‘Then what is the solution for this’. Being idealistic, I do not know the solution but I am sure hanging is not the right solution. Gandhiji pointed out, ‘An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind’. Punishment is given to reform people and to make him a better individual. But practically speaking, we have no other option other than execution as we had already run out of ideas on reforming such individuals.

This incident reminds me of my days at Puzhal Lake. We friends go there to take bath in the weekends. Everyone knew swimming except me. One day, they thought of pushing me into deep water to make me learn swimming. I begged, ‘I am happy even if I did not learn swimming in my lifetime, but for god’s sake; don’t push me into the waters’. They pushed me and that’s when I realized how terrible the ‘fear of death’ is. In fact, I knew that they would save me, but the fear of death broke me down into tears.

If you like to experience this fear, avail late night cab from your office to home. The rash driving will tell you how terrible it is. I once pleaded, ‘Please be slow, it’s ok even if I’m one hour late to home’.

I compared the jailing and execution of Kasab with capturing, breeding and killing of poor animals for their meat. I felt bad and thought I should not do this. The other thing which hurt me is killing animals for material gains. To name a few, killing of elephants for their ivory and killing of rhinos for their horns in Assam. All these things made me sick.

Plants do not have emotion which animals and humans enjoy. This is not the only reason for me getting converted into a vegetarian. Even plants have life. But when we consume vegetables and fruits, we don’t cut their roots. By cutting their leaves and branches (pruning), we are doing good for the plants which will make them grow larger and in turn produces more yield. Cutting of fruits and vegetables causes no suffering to the plants. If not cut, the fruits and vegetables become ripe, fall, get decayed by microorganisms, seeds are exposed and they germinate into new plant. On the other hand, we cage the animals. We inject growth hormones to grow them in a short time and kill them for their meat. I also agree that there are some plants that are destroyed but without any suffering.

There are animals which feed on other animals and plants to maintain the ecological balance. Unlike humans, they do so to meet their needs and not for their wants. Why should one be a vegetarian? – Vegetarians are believed to live longer and more over our parts are not designed to digest meat.
The sixth sense of human is boasting of making life easier. Yes, but at the cost of destroying the other humble creatures on earth. We not only kill animals, but we also kill our own species for the want of space, material and also in the name of caste and religion which are created to instill values in human. As told already, time is not far off where there will only be humans who are man eaters. Hope, we are not paving way for it.
Let us live and let live by doing our bit.

I know this article is bound to criticism. And criticisms are always welcome as ‘That which does not kill me makes me stronger’

On a lighter side, I wrote this article just to avoid answering the question,
‘Why have you become a vegetarian? Are you trying to impress a vegetarian girl?’

-Kannappan.

Does God exist? Are we superstitious?

I ask so many questions to my mother. But I don’t receive any convincing reply.
I asked – why should we not cut nails after 6 PM? Why should I eat only with the right hand? Why should I not bite my nails? Why do girls grow long hair? Why do we have pockets in left side of the shirt? Why should I pray god? Why should I go to temple? Why should we sit for sometime after our prayers? Why should we keep vibhoothi (ash) on our forehead?  …
In spite of myriad of my ‘whys’, I did not get any reply. Whenever I ask her, she says ‘That is how it works.’
After some point of time, I started introspecting and started asking myself many questions. Here starts my conversation between me and my self, (He – my self, they – our ancestors)
‘Now tell me, why we should not cut nails after 6 PM,’ I said.
‘It is easy to ask questions but difficult to answer,’ he said.
‘Let me tell you, in those days, there was no power. So, it would have been dark after 6. When we cut nails, there are chances that nails get scattered on the ground, pricking us whenever we mistakenly step on them,’ I said.
‘Ya, you are right. You know why we eat with our right hand?’ he asked.
‘After using toilet, we use our left hand to clean. Our excreta contain many microorganisms that are harmful to our health. We do not want to intake it and so we use our right hand to eat. That is also the reason behind considering left hand as inauspicious and why we should not bite our nails and take our hands nearer to the mouth when it is not actually needed,’ I said.
‘Well. Even though, microorganisms were discovered only in the 17th century, our ancestors knew long back that there is something harmful in our excreta.’ He said.
‘Yes, but even now people tell them they were superstitious. They are genius, aren’t they?’ I said.
Yes they are and do you know the reason behind girls growing long hair,’ he asked.
‘Woman’s body produces more bad smell than a man’s body. They (our ancestors) knew flowers smell good. So, women were asked to place flowers on their body in order to counter their body smell. That’s why women had long hair and placed flowers on them. But see nowadays, we use synthetic deodorants and scents which are suffocating,’ I said.
‘Women even forgot that keeping flowers adds to their beauty’ he said.
‘Yes, what to do,’ I said sadly.
‘And what is the reason behind you using AXE for some days,’ he asked.
‘Why do you want to pull my legs now,’ I said.
‘Just tell me no,’ he said.
‘I saw an advertisement where three girls were behind a guy who had put AXE. So, I too wanted some girls following me. I tried for two days, but none followed me,’ I grinned.
‘he he. Do you know why we have pockets in the left side of the shirts?’ he said.
‘Most of the Indians are right handed. Therefore, it is easy to use the right hand to take anything that is in the left hand side pocket,’ I said.
‘What do you think about our ancestors, do you feel they are superstitious in some respects?’ he asked.
‘Not at all. In fact, they are very smart,’ I said.
‘Ok. What do you feel about god?’ he quizzed.
I have asked this question to many people and I have got many responses for and against. The first person to whom I asked this question was my mother. She told ‘God is invisible. He is everywhere and you can feel his presence (thoonilum iruppar thurumbilum iruppar) but you cannot see him. He is the superpower and he is watching each and every one of us.’
‘Are you an atheist?’ he asked.
I smiled. My mother once said to me, ‘You should not lie; if you lie then God will poke your eyes’. That whole day, I lied for everything, not to get my eyes poked but I desperately wanted to see God.
 ‘What are you trying to say?’ he said.
‘It’s not that I don’t believe in god, but science makes ‘God’ unnecessary.’ I said.
‘You think you are smart? I know this has been already said by Stephen Hawking’, he said.
‘Oh, you knew already. Well, God is someone who imparts good values in human. God gives us faith, courage, self confidence, a helping hand when we are in trouble, a pat when we have achieved something. To be precise, God gives everything one needs for his living. Take the example of a child that falls down and cries. Its mother tells the child that she will punish the floor that has hurt him; she even strikes the floor a couple of times with the palm of her hand. The child dries out its tears and goes away, comforted. Has the mother’s act in any way diminished the child’s pain? Then why does it stop crying? It knows that here is someone who will take care of it, no matter what, and that it need not worry when its mother is around. We are very much like the child who falls down: we face difficulties, but we feel comforted when we know that God is keeping watch over us. Our problems cannot be driven away, but the burden seems lighter when we have faith in God.’ I said.
‘Do you feel God is having an eye on all of us?’ he asked.
‘Our ancestors wanted people to live with values. They did not want us to live in whatever way we liked. They had their own set of rules. They wanted – One to be faithful, good to all, not to cause even a small harm to others. They wanted to impart these good values to the fellow humans, but nobody seemed listening to them. They decided that there should be something which monitors each and every move of us. That is how God came into existence. We are told that God sees all our activities and we should do good and be good.’ I said.
‘So, do you mean to say that there is some reason behind each and everything we do?’ he said.
‘Yes, there is,’ I said.
‘Oh, is it. Ok then, now I am gonna corner you with multitude of questions.’ he said.
‘Yes, go ahead,’ I said.
‘You say God is everywhere then why are temples built?’ he said.
‘Temples are built to show us the presence of God and to let the world know how much faith and respect one has towards God’ I said.
‘Why should one pray God?’ he asked.
‘Life is made of both happiness and sorrow. We will happily share our joyous things to anybody. But when it comes to sorrow, we can’t share some of our sad things even to our parents and also to our close friends. When it happens, the internal stress increases leading to many complications. So, we are in need of someone to whom we can share anything and everything. That ultimately became God who listens to you and gives you courage to face the odds.’
‘Why should one go to temple to get his blessings?’ he asked.
‘Temples are not places where you just unload your sorrow. It is also the place which makes you fit and teaches you values. Our temples are built big. After our prayers, we go round the temple three times (Pirahaaram). This is not just to ask God to fulfill our wishes, but to make ourselves fit and healthy. Nowadays, we see people who did not go round the temple when they were fifteen but now wandering in parks and beaches after turning obese at fifty.’ I said.
‘What is the reason behind priest chanting mantras?’ he said.
‘When a mantra is chanted, vibrational energy is produced which gets distributed in the nervous system and helps to ensure health, healing, prosperity and peace in human,’ I said.
‘Tell me why we sit for sometime after our prayers?’ he said.
‘After doing 3 rounds of pirahaaram won’t our legs pain, that’s why we take rest for sometime before leaving the temple. Additionally, it also gives us pleasure of spending time with our family,’ I said.
‘Fine. Why do they say, we should not eat before going to temple? Do they mean to say we are not respecting God and giving preference to food?’ he said.
‘No, when we eat and do some activity, the blood will go to the moving parts of the body. Scientifically, our stomach needs blood to digest the food particles after we eat. So, when we eat and go to temple, we are denying blood to our stomach which leads to indigestion. Therefore, it is a good practice to eat after having our prayers.’ I said.
‘So, we should refrain from any physical activity after eating,’ he said.
Yes, I nodded.
‘What is the reason behind keeping vibhoothi in forehead?’ he said.
‘We place vibhoothi in between the two eyebrows in the region called as glabella. Pituitary gland, the master endocrine gland is situated beneath the glabella. When we touch the glabella, the master gland is activated, which controls all the other endocrine glands namely pineal gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, thymus gland, islets of Langerhans, adrenal gland, ovary and testis. This master gland which is activated when touched, secretes hormones which help in growth, functioning of the adrenal gland and in reproduction’ I said.
‘It sounds Greek and Latin to me,’ he said.
‘I came to know about this when I attended meditation class,’ I said.
‘Great. But this question is going to be very tough, ‘he said.
‘Go ahead,’ I said.
‘Everything is for good. Then why don’t you believe in God?’ he said.
‘Yes, I agree, but there are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The worst thing that God brought us is division in human into different religion which is in turn divided into caste. Based on who one worships, he is categorized into that religion. You know, what all are happening due to these divisions and misconceptions. The well-known Ayodhya dispute where Hindus and Muslims fought for occupying a piece of land. In that tussle, more than 2000 people lost their lives. Few months back, a Muslim girl eloped with a Hindu guy. They were caught by the relatives of the Muslim girl and both were honour killed. There was another similar incident where a Hindu girl eloped with a Dalit boy. Agitated by the incident, the father of the girl tortured and stripped off the boy’s mother and she was beaten up on the road,’ I said.
‘But why do you want to take the bad things when there are many good things to cherish?’ he said.
‘Nowadays people show no interest in good things. You remember the case of Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 69 people in Norway. He, who is a Christian, wanted to expel Muslims from Europe. Similar is the case with India and Pakistan, here it is between Hindus and Muslims. Few days back, I also read a headline where a dead woman was denied burial by caste Hindus in a Dalit graveyard as she got converted to Christianity. If she had believed God is one, then she would not have converted to Christianity at the first place. ‘I said.
‘You mean to say that we should stop believing in God,’ he said.
‘Here, I wanted to narrate an incident that happened. Once, I went to Sabarimalai, had my prayers. I started from Kerala and was returning to Chennai. I was at Dindugul bus stand and wanted to go to railway station which was 2 km away to catch the train arriving at 2.30 AM. My watch ticked 2 and I had 30 minutes to cover a distance of 2 km. I was not in a situation to afford an auto as I had only 150 rupees with me with which I also had to get my train ticket. I asked the route to a man at the bus stand and started walking. The station was not on the main road and I had to walk into the interior streets to reach the railway station. I lost my way as it had many turns. There was no one except few dogs in the streets to help me with the way. I even thought, do I ask the route to these dogs, but I was not sure whether they understood human language. I stood there for a while thinking what to do. I was glad when I saw a bike coming in front of me. I waved hands and stopped him. From his gesture, I realized he was drunk. I asked him the way to the station. He told me the route and said ‘Saami, na kuduchurken illaena naane ungala station la vitruvaen. Enna manuchurunga’ (Saami, I’m drunken else I’ll myself drop you at the station, please don’t mistake me). I replied, ‘No problem. In fact, I’m very grateful to you as you helped me when I really needed you’. I thanked him and I started walking hurriedly. I realized the God in him, but when I turned to see him again, he went out of my sight.’ I said.
‘What are you trying to say now? Did you see the movie ‘Anbae Sivam’ recently? If you speak like this, do you think you can become actor Kamal Hassan?’ he said.
‘Jokes apart. What I wanted to convey is we need not look at human as God; but we should at least see a human as human. We should respect others and we should care for all. Here I wanted to say a few words about kavignar Vairamuthu. Though his sons were born with silver spoon, he made his sons to work in his friend’s shop during vacations to let them understand the other side of life.’ I said.
There are two things which make me see God as a superpower.
Firstly, I observe this thumb rule in each and everyone’s life – there is no person who is completely happy and no person who is completely sad. The ‘happiness and sorrow’ is distributed uniformly in each and everyone’s life. I am searching who made this thumb rule. I always use ‘is’ instead of ‘are’ when it comes to happiness and sorrow as I feel these two words are inseparable.
Secondly– It took me many years to understand and realize the reasons behind going to temple, praying God, sitting back for a while after our prayers, etc. So, I think it will take some time for me to become mature to realize His presence.
Let’s believe in God. Let’s take all the good things in everything though bad things come for free. Let’s be good and do good. Let’s teach our children that “There is only one God in the name of ‘God’ and one race called the human race.”
“Ondrae kulam, oruvanae Dhevan”

-Kannappan.

Marks are not everything

To the students:

Learning is a joy

1. Please don’t get stressed, be calm and composed as always.
2. Have six to eight hours of sleep daily. Only when there is good sleep, whatever u have read will get into your mind and you can recollect later.
3. Take a break of 5 to 10 minutes every one hour. Our brain is not designed to concentrate continuously for more than an hour. So the breaks are vital.
4. Try to learn how much you can. Don’t strain too much.
5. The very purpose of education is to make you think and make you learn how you must live. It is not about getting marks. This thing I realized very late in my life. Of course, nothing is too late.
6. Never ask your friends how much he has studied; it will lead to unnecessary anxiety before the examination.
7. Do not worry about the marks you secure, see what you have understood from the lessons. When your understanding is high, the marks will take care of itself.
8. Don’t get scared by seeing the question paper. Try to write whatever you know, of course related to the topic.
9. Don’t discuss the answers after coming out of the exam hall, it will lead to stress and you will not be able to prepare well for the coming exams.

(During our exam times, when we came out of the exam hall, we didn’t discuss about how we wrote the exam, rather we commented, ‘Machi the girl near u super da’, ‘aama da, chance eh illa, she was very pretty’)

To the parents:

1. Please never compare your child with others. Everyone is good in their own ways. One can study well. One can play well. One can sing well. One can dance well. All the fingers are not of same size but they are useful in their own ways.
2. Drive them to study well. Do not pressurize them to study.
3. Don’t say them, “you are fit for nothing“. Instead say, “You have the stuff, the thing is you have to put some hard work, I am sure you can do it.”
4. When the child is exasperated after the exam. Be with him, console him and say him “Nothing is lost, don’t worry for anything. Come what may.”
5. When child shows suicidal tendencies and seems depressed a lot, don’t leave the child alone. Be with him and make him understand that marks are not everything.

Facts you should know:

1. Albert Einstein – a mediocre student.
2. Steve Jobs – the co founder of Apple is a college drop out.
3. Sachin Tendulkar – failed in his board examination.
4. Bill Gates – Chairman of Microsoft is a college drop out.
5. Thomas Alva Edison – inventor and scientist is a school dropout.
6. Winston Churchill – former Prime Minister of UK, writer and artist is a poor student in school.

What would have been the situation, if these persons were not there? Our life would have been always dark without Edison. No Iphones without Jobs. Computers would have been a distant dream for many without Gates. No laurels for Indian cricket without Sachin. The list goes on…….

To my dear friends:

Let us strive to remove the word suicide from our dictionary. The depressed ones need nothing but
"An ear that will hear them and
 A soul that will console them."

Let us share the message with our near and dear ones. I feel advices are better written than said. When it is in written form, there is no argument and the readers will be able to take them directly. I’m sure we are saving someone somewhere.

Anxious student

I pray, I should never come across a headline which reads “Student commits suicide”. When there is pain, don’t forget that life can give you thousand reasons to smile. When we were born, we dint bring anything, so always remember there is nothing to lose.

You can reach on 9941265431/9362994035 for any assistance. You can also mail to kannappanramanathan@gmail.com

I have always said and I’ll always say, “Life is beautiful”. Keep smiling as always and keep moving.

Cheers,
Kannappan.

To the most beautiful woman by Kannappan

When we see a good looking girl, we say “she is beautiful”. But when it comes to ‘most beautiful’, it is always our mother who will flash in our mind. Yes, this article is about her.

Even when she was at college, I dint leave her study peacefully. I was eight months old in her womb, when she took her final examination. In spite of me disturbing her, she graduated with first class.

I was born at Sivagangai near Karaikudi. When I was four years old, my sister was born. We all came to Chennai after that. My father worked in a company at Royapettah. I remember, I always fought with my mother. My mother beat me for all my misbehaviours. In turn, I beat her ten times counting from one to ten (theriyumla nangellam appavae rowdy).

My father was unable to run the family with his meagre income. My mother, being a graduate, she too wanted to work. She searched and she got a job as an accountant in a private company at Ambattur Industrial estate. As the rent was less at Ambattur, we shifted there. My father was ready to travel to Royapettah from Ambattur. My sister and I joined in a matriculation school nearby. I was seven years old then.

Our school ends at 3.30 PM. We reach home at 3.45 PM. The verandah key will be at our neighbour’s home. There will be a box in which my mother keeps the snacks– biscuits and cut fruits. We eat, study and sleep there. My mother reaches home at 7 PM and my father at 9 PM.

Days passed, I was 11 years old. Our needs increased day by day. My parents were not able to manage the growing financial needs of the family. We opened a STD booth at Ambattur. We had the shop open from 4 PM to 12 AM. I took care from 4 PM to 9 PM, later my father use to be there till 12 AM.  We also had a small black and white Solidaire TV at the shop. I remember we had a pirated cable TV connection for 40 a month. Whenever I had exams, I use to take the books along with me to study.

Days went, I was 13 then, we saved some money. Also my both grandparents helped us financially; moreover, we borrowed interest free money from outside and we got a house for ourselves. We felt happy. My sister and I always quarrel for all the things especially for snacks. Though she fought with me all the time, she too was aware of the struggle put by my father and mother to bring us up.

Two years passed, I was into tenth. My mother did not want me to look after the shop as she thought it would affect my studies. Even my father was not able to travel daily, so he quit his job.  My father completely took care of the shop whereas I started completely concentrating on my studies. (Now, please don’t ask me how much I scored in tenth).

Nowadays, there was no fight between me and sister. We shared everything. We became good friends. It was the time; the mobile phones started becoming popular. Within few months, our business became dull. We were pushed to the same point where we started. We were unable to meet our basic expenses. At that time, my grandfather was there in Malaysia. He helped my father get a job there in a temple. My father went there as I completed my 11th standard.

In 2005, I completed my twelfth. My mother wanted me to take a college outside Chennai. I explored and found that Mepco Schlenk was at second place in Anna University ranking list. She left the choice to me. I took Mepco. There was a month time between my completion and the college reopening. My mother left to office and my sister to school. I was alone at home. I cried in front of the mirror – asking myself how I’m going to stay alone without these people, with whom I’ll fight, how I’m going to manage everything.

I went there. I was homesick for first few days. I got good friends. I stayed in hostel for two years. Later we rented a house at Virudhunagar. I spent time with my best friends. Each and every day was filled with fun and frolic. I completed my engineering. I got placed in a software company.

I spoke about my father, myself and my sister, but there is one person who is behind the screen and does everything silently and keeps us moving. Yes, it is my mother who is responsible for whatever we are now. She is the sun around whom we are revolving as planets. Yes, it is she, who is taking care of all of us silently. It is she, who keeps us moving. She is struggling since I’m five years old. I’m with her for 23 years now; even then I don’t know when she gets up. Whenever, I got up, I can see her busy roaming here and there, taking care of the entire house hold activities.

She wakes up. She does all the cooking – breakfast and lunch. She gets ready. She wakes us up. Later she packs the food for us. She starts at 8.30 AM. The security will close the office gate at 9.00 AM sharp. She has to be there within 9. She goes there, does all the work assigned to her with utmost care and responsibility. She leaves office at 6 PM. Returns at 6.30 PM. When she comes, she buys snacks, groceries, vegetables and all the things that are needed for the next day. After returning, she doesn’t rest even for a second. She takes care of the dinner. She washes all the vessels. She eats and then goes to bed to do all these things the next day.

She doesn’t want to waste time combing and maintaining her hair, so she shaved her head when she was 40. She did it, so that she could save at least 10 minutes daily. When I was at Virudhunagar and my father was in Malaysia, she also had additional work. She has to pay the current bill, telephone bill. She has to go to ration. She has to register for the cylinder and get it delivered.

Only one day leave for her. During this day, she washes all the clothes. She makes dosa flour, only then she will be able to prepare food for the rest of the week. My mother is a vegetarian. She doesn’t know how to cook non vegetarian. But she learnt it for ours sake. She has never tasted it, but she cooks it in such a way that it tastes delicious.

I wonder how she is able to take care of all these things. When I was in Virudhunagar, we were five friends staying together. Unable to meet the food expenses, we decided to cook at home. We started cooking food. We divide the work among five of us. One friend buys the groceries. Two friends cook. The other two wash the vessels. In spite of dividing the work amongst us, we felt hard to stick to it. Really, I wonder how come she is able to take care of all these things alone without even a single day break.

She made me to study outside Chennai, because of which I learnt many things. It taught me - how one has to adjust with friends, how one should manage expenses, how to be flexible, how to be independent, how one has to keep going even when the loved ones are not around.

In fact, I knew how difficult it is to do all these things, but I felt the real pain involved only after my stay at Virudhunagar. After coming here, I wanted to share the work she did. As I started earning from my end, I wanted both my parents to stop working. My father is now in Chennai. I asked him not to go again anywhere to earn. Money is needed but it can’t buy us everything. I have even asked my mother to quit her job so many times, but she is not interested to do. She says she feels bored at home. I agree, it is one of the reasons, but the real reason is she doesn’t want me to take the whole responsibility on my shoulders.

What we have to do for our parents:

  1.We must respect them.
  2.We must listen to them and do things accordingly.
  3.They may be wrong at times, after all they are humans. In that case, we have to educate them why it was done the other way.
  4.We should take care of them till their last breath. We should not put them under the care of old age home. We must live for them.
  5.After marriage, there may be some misunderstandings and difference in opinion between one’s spouse and parents. In that case, we have to talk to them to sort things out. We should not think about having a nuclear family with our spouse.

The above points might seem confusing, but when you dig deeper, you will understand all of them meant the same. It just says “Please don’t forget your parents”

In Psychology, I have read that “Everyone has own reasons behind their actions”. But my mother proves this wrong. She does everything for us without expecting anything in return. I am gifted to have a mother like this. Not only my mother, there are hundreds of mothers like this. They live for their children throughout their life. In fact, there is no end to mother’s love, but this article has.

Dedicated to the most beautiful woman,
Kannappan.

My travel with the best companion ‘The Hindu’

I travel from one end of Chennai to the other end to make my both ends meet. It’s a long journey day to day from Ambattur to Thiruvanmiyur. In my first trip, as all do, I too started with listening to music. After days passed, I felt it uninteresting and gave up. Later, I use to kill my time sleeping.
One day, I wanted to observe what others do in train. They sleep, read, chat, or have their China sets in full volume which will tear your ears. I had neither a person to chat nor a China mobile and since I was already fed up with naps and music, my only option was to read. Without a second thought, I chose ‘The Hindu’ which is one of the best dailies.

Though, I was from a matriculation school, I was not that good in English as I was taught only to learn a language as a subject. So, I thought I should improve my language through reading the daily.

For few months, I just read the headlines and not the detailed news because of two reasons. Firstly, I was not able to understand the meanings of few complex words which were above my standard. Secondly, I felt lazy to read in detail. I was happy to turn the pages quickly to see the last page as I’m quite interested in sports column. Then spend my time solving the Sudoku.

Days passed, without my knowledge, I gradually started reading in detail about everything that I felt interesting. Whenever, I came across new words, I type in my mobile and see the meaning for those words once I reach office. This is how it started and I spent my time preciously instead of wasting it.

One day, my mother called me and asked ‘why don’t you take the company bus instead of walking and changing two trains’. I thought it was a good idea and whispered to myself ‘Yes, I may get a good looking girl to accompany me, who would laugh even for my stupid jokes.’ But in fact, whatever we think never happens, does it?

The next month, I registered myself for the company bus. I opened ‘The Hindu’. I was not able to read as the bus shook because of our most beautiful roads. Within fractions, I felt the pain in my eyes and the head ached. In the bus, one could see two groups of people, the first group with their ipods on and the second group which always sleeps. I had no other option but to fall in the latter. Despite spending thousand rupees for the bus, it was rather boring and made me lethargic. Somehow, I pushed the month and I said to myself, ‘I should never again think of coming in bus.’

I switched again to my train travel. I learnt many things within a month. I have heard of people saying “Life is how we look at it”. An optimist says the glass is half full while a pessimist says the glass is half empty. Though, it is true, it requires experience to realize it. Thanks to my mother who wanted me to travel in bus that changed my looking at life.

The people whom I once saw as a crowd now look like a bunch of lovely and lively people struggling for their bread and butter. The elders’ talking about politics and their day to day life instances please the ears compared to the monotonous tune in the ipods. When I think of whether technology is a boon or bane to mankind, I end up saying it is in how we use it.


Moreover, in the train, one can admire a child’s cry; an old man’s laugh. One can listen to the pleas of the common man. One can offer a needy and feel self satisfied, what else can we ask for?

Coming back to my best companion, in spite of doing all these, I also read the daily. Reading which I once started as a duty has now become a pleasure. Apart from knowing about the day to day happenings, I also learn how to live a life. Here are some of the important things that I learnt,

Ø One must not throw waste in the open. I do my bit to keep the environment clean. What about you?

Ø One must be flexible. It not only applies to workplace, it is applicable through out our life especially in order to avoid beaten by our spouse.

Ø One must use the available resources judiciously.

Ø One must put a diary and write all their happy moments. One who is content and trains his brain to be happy is believed to live longer.

Ø One must not spit in public places.

Ø One must be wary of desire, greed and anger which prompt him to commit sin.

Ø One must not splurge on unnecessary things.

Ø One must have 4 to 5 small meals at frequent intervals than having three big meals a day.

Ø One must not urinate in the open.

Ø One must exercise at least thirty minutes a day.

Ø One must take care of his parents in their old age.

Ø One must not commit suicide.

Ø One must not smoke that too in the public places, where we deny fresh air even to the non smokers. Smoking doesn’t mean that smokers will die early. Non smokers are walking on the pavement whereas the smokers are walking in the middle of the road where there are high chances of getting hit.

I inculcate values in me by reading ‘The Hindu’ what we so call education has failed to do. There may be an end to my train travel, but there will be never an end to the journey of life with ‘The Hindu’. Join the journey with ‘The Hindu’ in just three rupees which is half the minimum fare that we spend in a MTC.

Though, at times we say ‘Life sucks’ (enna vazhkada idhu), in the broader picture, it looks very beautiful, doesn’t it?